USS Constellation
There have been at least two Federation starships known to bear the name USS ''Constellation. USS ''Constellation (NCC-1017) of the Constellation.]] The first USS Constellation was a ''Constitution''-class starship, with a crew of 430, under the command of Commodore Matt Decker. On stardate 4202.1, while on routine a deep space exploration, the Constellation encountered several destroyed solar systems, including system L-370 thru L-374. Upon entering the L-374 system, the ship's science officer, Masada, discovered that L-374 IV was breaking up. Upon closer inspection, an enormous robot was found hovering over it, slicing out chunks of the planet with an antiproton beam. The Constellation went in to further investigate but encountered exceptionally heavy subspace interference preventing their contacting Starfleet to inform them of their findings. While attempting to intervene, the Constellation was attacked by the robot which crashed through the Constellation’s deflectors, knocking out the ship's generators. An attempt was made to contact Starfleet and a distress call was sent out, however their calls were initially unheard. Defenseless, powerless and nearly dead in space, the Constellation hid in an inner system. Worst of all, the ship's life support system was failing. Decker ordered his crew to abandon ship and he opted to beam his crew down to the third planet, for refuge while he stayed behind as the last man aboard ship. The robot hit the Constellation again and knocked out the transporters, stranding Decker on the ship and his crew of 430 on the planet's surface. The robot later devoured L-374 III before assistance could arrive, killing Decker's entire crew. The guilt he felt from those deaths later drove him to the brink of madness. A short time later, on stardate 4202.9, the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise]] picked up the distress call while passing through that sector. The call was so faint, only making out the word "Constellation." The Enterprise soon located the Constellation’s dead hulk, adrift, and determined it to be wrecked by the same disaster that destroyed the systems within the sector. The damage analysis on the Constellation found a display of abnormal energy output: all power plants were dead, reserve energy banks were at a very low power level, and the life support systems were barely operative. The entire bridge was damaged and uninhabitable, however the rest of the ship was able to sustain life. Radiation levels were normal; atmospheric pressure was at 11 pounds per square inch. The ships computer system was still intact, but its filtration systems were out, and the Constellation's communication systems were shorted out as well. The warp drive was "a hopeless pile of junk", and the impulse engines were not "too badly off" despite having their control circuits fused solid. The ship's phaser banks were exhausted, yet able to be recharged. Once the Enterprise's landing party beamed aboard on a deck of the Constellation, they found the entire ship a mess. The landing party split up: Scotty's team went to the engineering section, while Kirk and McCoy tried to find Decker or his crew. However, there were no bodies or survivors present. It was assumed that the crew wasn't abducted, but had simply left. Kirk called Spock on the Enterrpise and asked if the crew may have beamed to one of the two planets they found intact when they entered L-374. Spock commented that the two planets were unihabitable to human life; one had a surface of molten lead, and the other had a poisonous atmosphere. From this, they concluded that the entire crew was while on one of the now destroyed Class-M planets. .]] Eventually, the landing party found Decker in Auxiliary Control, passed out. Kirk tried to get everything possible from Decker, but the man needed treatment onboard the Enterprise. The landing party finally acquired the Captain's Log and played the tape, discovering the true fate of the destroyed solar systems. The Enterprise was prepared to take the Constellation in tow, so Decker and Bones beamed aboard the Enterprise while Kirk and his pary remained. The robot once again returned to L-374 and attacked the Enterprise. Upon some hasty repairs, the Constellation was operable enough to have a single phaser bank recharged, shield power was temporarily restored, and 1/3 impulse power was available. However, nothing could be done after the machine had attacked. After the Enterprise had made a number of unsuccessful attempts to stop the robot, it was determined that the only way to destroy it was by exploding the Constellation inside the robot since now the Constellation had little to be gained with it's commanding officer and entire crew dead. At first, Kirk thought of activating the ship's destruct system, but, their was not enough power for the destruct system to be put into action. Kirk ordered Scotty to come up with a machine to overload the Constellation's impulse engines from Auxiliary Control. While Scott beamed back aboard the Enterprise and no one was left aboard the Constellation, Kirk activated the machine. After further rigging the hulk, the impulse engines were overloaded in the maw of the robot creating a 97.835 megaton fusion explosion that destroyed the Constellation and rendered the Planet Killer inert.(TOS: "The Doomsday Machine") :The ''Constellation model was a plastic AMT Enterprise model, with the decal sheet adapted to create the registry.'' USS Constellation (NCC-1974) The second Starship Constellation was the prototype of the ''Constellation''-class explorers. In 2293, it was undergoing certification trials. At this time, the vessel had a NX- registry number prefix. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) : The ''Constellation was not seen, but only listed in a computer status display.'' In 2371, the Constellation was ordered to Deep Space 9 to transport a Jem'Hadar child to Starfleet for study. (DS9: "The Abandoned") During the Dominion War in mid-2374, it was assigned to assist the [[USS Defiant (NX-74205)|USS Defiant]] in the search for survivors of the Cardassian attack on the [[USS Honshu|USS Honshu]]. (DS9: "Waltz") : The ''Constellation was not seen in either DS9 episode, but only mentioned in dialogue. Therefore, it is possible that the Constellation was a different, newer starship. However, without direct evidence, this article assumes that it was the same starship.'' Constellation de:USS Constellation